Sunday, March 27, 2011

[GPOV]: Tt eSPORTS, ASUS & Scorptec Aimstar CS:S Challenge

Hey guys,

Last weekend I attended the Tt eSPORTS Aimstar CounterStrike:Source event which was supported by ASUS, AMD & G.Skill. The event was held at the wondrous Scorptec showroom in Melbourne.

The day started of quickly as many of the attendees arrived before the official opening time of 11AM eagerly checking out the computers and the hardware that were present.

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The 2 pro players; Nicolas 'Fluke' Pontil-Scala and Anthony 'Ar3syk' Christou of Tt.GIGA  started to set up their machines which they would be using for the next 3 hours along with the first pair to go up against them. They were great sports for taking on wave after wave of 2s :)

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Meanwhile, 4 computers were also set up to allow the next 2 pairs to warm up against each other.

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The scores of the rounds on aim_map were recorded on a huge whiteboard and gameplay was shown on the big screen

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The supports of the event also brought hardware to show off in various different styles.

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Some of the ex-Sequential girls came along as well, showing that they can play CS:S and be good promoting Tt eSPORTS! There are other pics, but not sure if they want you to see it… I’ll let them decide.

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Some random pictures during the day;

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(headrest, before it broke… lol)

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Scoreboard at the end of the day:

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Winners (with Chris ‘Mayo’ Smith)

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sammizle & sarina fully hektik bruno ~ 16:10

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silent & mae ~ 16:12

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freakshow & syn ~ 14:16

Obez’ angels (I think you’ve been replaced Tony, ha).

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And the day was over as quickly as it started.

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It was an awesome event, thanks on behalf of ASUS to all the attendees that came and I hope you guys all had fun :)

Cheers,

Matthew ~grumpy

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Sydney Street Photography–5th March 2011

Taking out the DSLR to capture some shots to highlight the first week of Autumn, proved to be unsuccessful, but street life in Sydney was buzzing.

I guess everyone was celebrating the completion of the first week of university.

Usually I use an Olympus Trip 35mm, (yes film) for my street photography as it is a small & inconspicuous piece of gear that no one gives a second look at. If they do, I look like the perfect tourist :)

Another day, another picture, another buck.

Another Day. Another Masterpiece. Another buck.

Nikon 17-55 F/2.8 @35mm, F/8.0, ISO 640

I walked past this guy when he was about halfway done with the image, (Sydney Harbour Bridge + Opera House). He was meticulous; paintbrush touched the canvas for a few seconds - then look up at the subject – and back down at the canvas - stare at the image for another few seconds - then contact again.

I came back after a few hours and he was still there – but this time with an almost-finished image of the major attractions of Sydney, Australia.

Feets of time

The next generation of feet.

Nikon 17-55 F/2.8 @55mm, F/8.0, ISO 640

Stopped at a crossing and saw a pair of pudgy little feet in front of me, I think what attracted me to fire off a couple of shots off the hip was the juxtaposition of the baby & adult pair of legs in front of it – I had to compose the image quickly before the red man turned green.

Luckily I got this in one go! The Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 is a machine.

 

Till next time!

Monday, March 7, 2011

What Street Photography is, and why I love it.

What is Street Photography? It is not taking photos of the street if that’s what you are thinking!

For me, it is about capturing the little things that happens on the streets, (see?) which happen for maybe a split second and then disappearing forever – never before seen again.

This notion is what strives the Street Photographer, (S.P.) to capture these precious moments and share them back with the public.

Caspar Claasen, Amsterdam.

Some people may see it being creepy, even bordering the voyeurism line and I understand their point of view – however these photographs are capturing people in the public streets.

The majority of street photography will be in no way rude, wrong, or anything that is being frowned upon in today’s society.

Rather it celebrates youthfulness, happiness, humour, juxtaposition & all the other big English words we learnt in high school :)

Braving the Night Rain - Danny Santos II

Street photography is raw, (pun unintentional, I swear!) – which is why I love it. There is no staging, no faking or posing, there is little-to-no post-processing, everything is normal.

The modern day S.P. may be considered a historian – in this commercialised world, maybe in 100 years time, street photography will be the source for the future to look back on what life was like in the 21st century.

Anyone can do street photography, with any camera – you do not need to learn how to Photoshop, (thank goodness) – you just need to carry along 2 cameras; something to capture the image, and also the most important camera of all - your eyes!

You don’t need a good camera, heck I shoot with an old $30 film camera because it doesn’t look threatening (more later).

My Street Photography Camera

Street photography requires patience, waiting for the perfect image – some days you get that one perfect image if you are lucky, some days you can hit the jackpot and get two, (haha).

Matt Stuart

Matt Stuart

All in all, I just wanted to introduce the background of Street Photography and why I like to shoot it for fun :)

Leave your thoughts below, and thanks for reading.

 

Cheers,

Matthew